


Of Black Holes and Love

by clairedearing



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), and also luther but not really
Genre: AU, Derek is John Luther, M/M, No Werewolves, Onesided Romance, Stiles is Alice Morgan, as in it's not canon at all, but actually no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-01
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:13:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairedearing/pseuds/clairedearing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“When you’re being consumed by a black hole, you think of the person you love.” Stiles snags his bottom lip back in between his teeth. “What an odd concept.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Black Holes and Love

**Author's Note:**

> AKA I watched Luther this morning.

"They killed my father, you know," Stiles says, hands curving around his cup of coffee, a smile gracing his lips. Derek watches, notes how Stiles is completely calm, how he's restraining the urge to grin. "They never told me, of course, why would they, but I found out on my own. Things come up when one is..." he pokes his tongue between his teeth, bites it gently, and licks his lips. "Inebriated."  
  
"I can't prove you did it," Derek says, sighing, because he's a bit tired of this game, but Stiles never tires of it. Stiles likes it - likes the attention. Likes the acknowledgment.  
  
"No," Stiles says, nearly a whisper, and he turns, raising the mug up to his lips, chewing his bottom lip and smiling that smile that makes Derek want to wrap his hands around his neck and squeeze and pull him forward and do things and then, in the same breath, makes him want to push him backwards and  throw him off the bridge. "That's the beauty of it, you see. Fifteen years in the making. My only regret is that they never knew it was me. Well," Stiles amends suddenly. "The dog - she knew it was me." Stiles sighs, or huffs. A breath of frustration. "I wish I didn't have to kill the dog. I liked the dog. But," he shrugs. "Sacrifices must be made for the greater good."  
  
Derek can't stop it. He snaps out a, 'the greater good?' before he can stop it and feels Stiles mood shift instantly.  
  
"For the greater good," Stiles repeats, hissing it, spitting it out angrily. "They were murderers - they took me away from my father, they deserved to die -"  
  
"Like Kate Argent deserved to die?" Derek shoots back, and watches Stiles flinch back, his eyes water.  
  
"I did that for you," Stiles whispers, mouth dropping open. "I did that for _you_. I did that for  _you_!" He laughs, bitterly, choked with tears. "And yet, I've yet to see any gratitude, what's so ever, though it would be nice -"  
  
"I'm not going to thank you for murder," Derek hisses, and leans closer because people are passing by and staring. "I'm not going to thank you for that."  
  
Stiles shifts, fidgets, like he does when he stares up at his chalkboard at the University and can't quite figure out a problem - can't find the solution. Derek knows that's why that Stiles' fixated on him, when he rationalizes it all out. Derek is the next equation that Stiles has become preoccupied with. Stiles wants to see how Derek works, how he ticks - wants to bury himself inside Derek and find his way out.   
  
But, Stiles turns, still in Derek's space - or rather, Derek's in Stiles' space - and gazes out at the water, still chewing on his bottom lip.   
  
"Do you remember," Stiles starts, voice hushed, fiddling with his coffee mug. "Do you remember when I showed you the black hole?"  
  
How can Derek forget; laying in the middle of the planetarium, on their backs, looking up at the ceiling, sound so loud it nearly broke his ear drums, and the black hole above them, in front of them, pulling them in, and Stiles grabbed Derek's hand and laughed, laughed, laughed, and it was the happiest he had ever sounded, though Derek had been  scared, so scared.   
  
"Black holes," Stiles had said, grinning, nuzzling into Derek's side. "Aren't they marvelous? All consuming; they inhale everything and crush them to the point of non-existence. Isn't it beautiful?"  
  
"If you're into that kind of thing," Derek had said, still shaking with the after effects of the roaring sound, and Stiles laughed again, and pressed his face into Derek's coat.   
  
"Oh, I am, though," Stiles whispered. "Black holes - the universe - is so much more than tabloids, and celebrities, and murder. So much more than who you hate and who you love. When you're being crushed, love doesn't matter."  
  
Derek stiffened, and looked down. "Yes," he said, incredulous. "Yes, it does."  
  
Stiles had blinked, and cocked his head, and Derek knew that no matter how long he explained it, Stiles would never get it.   
  
But here, now, when Stiles is sipping his coffee and shivering against the cold, smiling fondly. Here.  
  
"Yeah," Derek says. "Yeah, I remember."  
  
"I understand," Stiles says, and leans forward to look over the edge of the railing at the water below. "I understand what you meant." He looks up, still leaning over the edge.

"When I heard that Kate Argent had woken, I couldn't breathe. I remember," and he smiles back down at the water. "Standing in my kitchen, and I couldn't breathe, Derek, that's never happened to me before, not for a long while. I stood there and I tried to breathe, and the only thing I could think of was you. How this was going to affect you, how you were handling it. Did you know, already? Did you not know? What were you going to do when you found out? What was Kate Argent going to do to  you ?"  
  
Derek is silent, coffee cold in his hand. Stiles breathes in and out, like he's relishing the feeling.  
  
"I hated it," Stiles says, lips curled back in disgust, but it's replaced quickly with a smile. "That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I was being crushed," and Stiles pronounces the words like velvet, like silk. "From all sides. I couldn't do anything, except think of you."  
  
He looks up, bright eyed. "It's exactly like you said."  
  
It clicks entirely too quickly for Derek to feel safe with, but he keeps his quiet - knows that Stiles is enjoying his monologue.   
  
"When you're being consumed by a black hole, you think of the person you love." Stiles snags his bottom lip back in between his teeth. "What an odd concept."  
  
Derek's phone rings, then, vibrates against his thigh, and he pulls it out with a quick 'Hale' into the receiver. It's his Uncle, which figures, asking him to come back to the station.   
  
"I've got to go," Derek says, taking the conversation and putting it in the back of his mind for later to go over. Stiles steps a bit closer.  
  
"People in love usually kiss each other when one says good bye."  
  
"People, Stiles," Derek says, and feels like he's scolding a child. "People implies that there are two people in love."  
  
Stiles doesn't look crestfallen, or angry. He smiles the same smiles that Derek's grown used to - the smile that tells Derek that Stiles is enjoying Derek's company - or, now that he knows better - the smile that means that Stiles thinks he's in love with Derek.  
  
"You're in love with me," Stiles says, and sounds as sure as when he said, 'yes I killed them and you'll never prove it' and 'isn't it beautiful?' "I know it."  
  
Before Derek can stop it, before Derek can stop feeding into whatever fantasy Stiles' submerged himself into, Stiles is kissing him, gently, lightly, but firm - essentially Stiles. 

He pulls away, when Derek doesn't move, and his lips curve upwards. 

"Is this a challenge, Detective Hale?" Stiles questions, and Derek rolls his eyes, and brushes past him to walk toward the parking lot on the side of the river. "I accept it!"   
  
There's silence, where Derek knows that Stiles is smiling at him, hands curved around his cup of coffee, cool now, but he supposes he should have guessed what happens next, because Derek turns for a second to get to his car, and catches sight of Stiles' red coat, and Stiles waves, blows him a kiss.  
  
"I love you, Derek!" Stiles calls, over the sounds of the city, over the rush of the river. "I love you!"  
  
He doesn't know why, but he stares at the other man, waving at him, smiling like somehow Derek's made him the happiest person in the world.   
  
It makes Derek's stomach flip - out of fear - like the thought of Stiles usually does. But, he allows himself a small, indulgent smile, and waves back, and watches as Stiles bounces up  and down when he sees it, and he gets another 'I love you!' out of it. It doesn't matter,   
  
Derek supposes - Stiles matters, of course, but not Stiles' delusions. Derek has serial killers to go and catch.  
  
(Besides, the happier Stiles is, the less bored he is, and the less likely he is to commit another murder Derek will never catch him for.)  



End file.
